Students’ Perceptions of the Effectiveness of English Club on EFL Speaking Skills

Xin Man is a border district of Ha Giang province with unfavorable topography and geography that hinder socio-economic development and education a lot. It is also the home to many ethnic minority groups. However, taking advantage of the tourism potential, the local authorities have placed great emphasis on developing community-based tourism and eco-tourism to make it the pioneer industry. Therefore, considerable efforts have been devoted to building human resources serving the tourism industry including enhancing English ability. The local government has always been interested in improving the quality of English teaching and learning at all levels and implemented many programs to promote English teaching and learning activities. One of the so-called programs is the English club program to foster secondary school students’ English communication performance. This study aims to explore the students' perceptions of English club activities and evaluate their effectiveness from the students' perspective, thereby proposing some recommendations for the successful implementation of the program in the whole district. To achieve the aims, the study deployed a descriptive qualitative method and collected the data through a survey questionnaire. Research results revealed that the students have positive attitudes and a good awareness of the role of the English Club. Participation in English Club not only significantly improves the students’ speaking skills but also offers them valuable opportunities to be equipped with soft skills, make more friends, and share and be shared with each other in learning English.